Millions of children know the story of Pocahontas. They know that, thanks to the help of the Powhatan tribe, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas survived when others had failed. As Virginians, we know Indian tribes have played an integral role in the commonwealth and the country's history from the beginning. Yet even today, the federal government has yet to recognize any of Virginia's historic tribes.

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe's chief of staff left a voice-mail message for a Democrat who was on the verge of quitting the General Assembly in June, saying that the state senator's daughter might get a top state job if he stayed to...

When U.S. Rep. James Moran Jr., a Virginia Democrat, announced in January that he would not seek re-election to Congress, I (along with every other sensible Democrat) breathed a sigh of relief.
Only a podiatrist or a contortionist could admire Mr....

Staffers passing by a room in the U.S. House of Representatives office building earlier this month did double takes. Whom they saw inside were no ordinary Capitol Hill briefing attendees: rats, mice, guinea pigs and rabbits.
The presence of these...

Forty years ago this month, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act; astute, visionary legislation that's served as our nation's lifeline for plants, fish, and wildlife on the brink of extinction. The act has since become one of the strongest and...

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When the Air Force looked for ways to save money last year to deal with declining budgets, officials decided to halt work on a high-flying, long-endurance spy drone built in Palmdale by defense giant Northrop Grumman Corp.
At a cost of $35,000 per flying hour, the Global Hawk Block 30 aircraft had "priced itself out of the niche, in terms of taking pictures in the air," Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said at the time.
The Air Force planned to stop buying the Global Hawk and mothball 18 of...

Much of what happens in Congress isn't about governing or setting policy, it's about creating campaign issues for the next election. That's because the No. 1 item on the legislative agenda is determining who'll get to set the legislative agenda.
As lamentable as that may be, there's a good reason for it. House rules give the majority tremendous power to stifle the minority. And in the Senate, the majority can wield absolute control over what gets debated and legislated, although the filibuster...

Jim Moran Photos

When the Supreme Court struck down, on free-speech grounds, a law making it a federal crime to sell videos depicting animal cruelty, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) had more than a passing interest. He wrote the law. On Wednesday, Gallegly...

WASHINGTON - After an extraordinary emergency session, the House voted early this morning to send the Terri Schiavo case to a federal court in Florida.
The House began voting at 12:20 a.m., as members scrambled to return to Washington during what was a planned two-week Easter recess. The bill was approved on a 203-58 vote.
The Senate voted yesterday afternoon to approve the bill, which would move the case to a U.S. District Court in Florida. That court could override a state judge's decision to allow...

In the worst terrorist attack ever against the United States, hijackers struck at the preeminent symbols of the nation's wealth and might Tuesday, flying airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and killing or injuring thousands of people.
As a horrified nation watched on television, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan collapsed into flaming rubble after two Boeing 767s rammed their upper stories. A third airliner, a Boeing 757, flattened one of the Pentagon's...